By Darin The 1942 American football season was heavily shaped by World War II, as military enlistments depleted team rosters and disrupted traditional sports operations across the country. Despite these wartime constraints, both the college and professional grids delivered historic seasons.
1942 College Football Season
The college season featured intense competition alongside military service academies and pre-flight training schools that fielded temporary powerhouse teams.
- The Champions: Under legendary head coach Paul Brown, Ohio State (9–1) claimed its first-ever AP National Championship. Their lone blemish was a 17–7 upset loss to Wisconsin. Because the AP Poll concluded before postseason bowl games, Ohio State took the crown despite not playing in a bowl. Concurrently, Georgia (11–1) claimed a share of the national title from several other selectors after capping its season with a 1943 Rose Bowl victory over UCLA.
- The Heisman: Georgia halfback Frank Sinkwich won the Heisman Trophy, playing much of the season with a broken jaw and leading the nation in total offense.
1942 National Football League (NFL) Season
The professional ranks faced immediate wartime changes. Rosters were thin, and iconic Chicago Bears head coach George Halas left his team mid-season to serve in the U.S. Navy.
- The Regular Season: The Chicago Bears dominated the league, steamrolling their opponents to a perfect 11–0 regular-season record.
- The Championship Game: In a massive upset on December 13, 1942, the Washington Redskins defeated the undefeated Bears 14–6 to capture the NFL Championship, avenging their infamous 73–0 title loss to Chicago two years prior.
- Statistical Leaders: Green Bay Packers quarterback Cecil Isbell led the league with 2,021 passing yards and 24 touchdowns. His favorite target, Don Hutson, set a dominant receiving standard with 1,211 yards and 17 touchdowns. Pittsburgh Steelers rookie Bill Dudley led the league in rushing with 696 yards.
A Deep Dive into 1942 Football History and Highlights
- January 1, 1942 – Durham, North Carolina – Once, the Rose Bowl was played on the East Coast. Oregon State College surprised everyone by winning the Pacific Coast Conference championship. The Golden Rankings website details how the Beavers won their final five games and earned their first Rose Bowl trip. At the time, the PCC champion chose its opponent. Minnesota, ranked No. 1, could not play due to Western Conference rules, so Oregon State chose Duke, the next-highest-ranked team.
- January 4, 1942 – Polo Grounds, New York City – At the 4th NFL All-Star Game in a series where the NFL champs would play against the best players from the rest of the League, the Bears faced a group led by Slingin’ Sammy Baugh and Frank Filchok of Washington and Green Bay’s Don Hutson.
- September 27, 1942 – In what may be one of the most ironic games in NFL history, the New York Football Giants defeated the Washington Redskins by the score of 14-7. NY did not achieve even one first down the entire game!
- October 10, 1942 – A critical game was held at the neutral site of Cleveland Stadium during the height of World War II, pitting the University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) Panthers against the powerful Great Lakes Navy Bluejackets. The Great Lakes squad was a formidable service team composed of enlisted college and professional football players, including 1941 Heisman Trophy winner Bruce Smith. The heavily favored Bluejackets ultimately prevailed by a single point, 7-6, after Pitt had missed a conversion earlier in the contest.
- December 5, 1942 – Varsity Stadium, Toronto – We assure that the score of the 30th Grey Cup game is indeed a football score and not one from the Hockey realm. With WWII underway, the Cup had a military flavor as the Toronto RCAF Hurricanes took the Grey Cup title, edging out the Winnipeg RCAF Bombers, 8-5.
- December 8, 1942 – The 8th Heisman Trophy Award was given to Frank Sinkwich, Georgia’s outstanding halfback.
- December 13, 1942 – Griffith Stadium, Washington, D.C. – The Redskins appeared in another NFL Title tilt, upsetting the Chicago Bears 14-6.
- December 22, 1941, the 1942 NFL Draft took place, and “Bullet” Bill Dudley from the University of Virginia was the first pick by the Pittsburgh Steelers.
- December 27, 1942 – Shibe Park, Philadelphia – According to NWW2M.com, the way NFL All-Star games worked for a five-year period was that the NFL Champs would face a team of hand-picked League All-Stars a couple of weeks after the Title Game. Back in the December 13 edition of this series, we talked about the Washington Redskins winning the Big game in an upset of the Chicago Bears 14-6 at Griffith Park in D.C. Tradition would hold that the 5th and final NFL All-Star Game would play out in this format, as Washington faced a team of All-Stars coached by the Bears staff led by Hunk Anderson. The NFL stars included Bullet Bill Dudley of Pittsburgh at halfback, Bears quarterback Sid Luckman, Eagles signal caller Tommy Thompson, and the line play of Bruise Kinard and Bulldog Turner. The makeshift NFL All-Stars squad overcame the champs that day as the Washington Redskins fell 14-17.